


Life's Grays and Spa Days

by Amaratsu



Category: RWBY
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Makeover, Stress, Team RWBY - Freeform, Weiss and Ruby are besties, Yang is team mom, spa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26729176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amaratsu/pseuds/Amaratsu
Summary: Weiss is a perfectionist, working hard comes with the territory; She's used to it. What she ISN'T used to is having people around her who worry about just how hard she chooses to push herself.When Weiss' stress starts to eat away at her, Ruby Rose steps up to make the greatest sacrifice of her huntress career: A spa day.Story requested by JBlaser on Fanfiction.net.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JBlaser](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=JBlaser).



> Hey there, thanks for reading!  
> I just want to give a big shout-out to JBlaser. They approached me to ask if I'd take any requests for a story-something I'd never considered-and were kind enough to share their thoughts with me. I've obviously never taken a request before, but they were very patient and perfectly willing to indulge my madness when I went beyond the prompt. I can't thank them enough for being so helpful and flexible, although I might have gotten a little carried away with their request and turned this into a two-parter... oops? Considering the request was basically a story about Ruby going somewhere with Weiss to get a make-over, there's a good chance I might have gone a little overboard haha.  
> Again, thanks to JBlaser for being willing to share his idea, and thanks to you all for giving this fic a read! With any luck, I'll have this sucker finished in the next two weeks.  
> Hope to see y'all then!

To be a Schnee was to be powerful.

To be a Schnee was to be intelligent.

To be a Schnee was to be efficient.

To be a Schnee was to be composed.

To be a Schnee was to be perfect.

Hair as white as the first kiss of winter snaps about as a figure dances across the training arena. Glacial blue eyes narrow in fierce concentration, filled with the same relentless determination with which icy titans reshape the very land they grind to dust beneath their girth. The girl's sword flicks forward in a feint, but she quickly shifts her momentum upwards. A gravity glyph blooms beneath her like a dark flower as she sails overhead, and the natural pull of the planet doubles, but she's put the correct force into her leap this time and finds herself in the perfect position over what would have been a staggered opponent. There's no hesitation as she whips her blade through a complicated series of strikes faster than the eye can see.

Too fast, as it turns out. The girl overbalances slightly on landing, barely a stumble, but it's enough. Her heel slips, and her ankle twists in a way that it most certainly is not supposed to. The girl lets out a hiss that's more irritated than pained and stops to stare at the mat like it'd personally offended her. She takes a deep breath…

Weiss let it out slowly. It's a simple maneuver, easy to visualize and simpler still to run again. She has all the time in the world to work on it.

Sore muscles protested as she moved to reset, her ankle loudest of all, but she ignored them with the same cold indifference her father showed to complaining workers and errant children; Either they'd get on board, or they'd soon learn the futility of making their opinions known. More important was the assessment of her dust reserves; Muscles recover, but dust didn't grow on trees. Weiss frowned as she flipped open Mytenaster's dust chamber, she hadn't realized she'd been running the drill as long as the depletion of her gravity dust seemed to imply. Glancing up at the clock, the heiress repressed a groan. She'd lost track of time, a rare occurrence, and she was sure her team would be wondering where she was.

Sighing, Weiss made her way to the locker room showers. Her ankle throbbed, but she ignored it in favor of turning up the heat of the water until it burns. The pain recedes to a corner of her awareness and tense muscles relaxed as she busied herself with washing away the evidence of her training session with vigor. She wasn't especially worried about anyone being nosy anymore, her team had proven to be very understanding of each other's respective needs to do some training on their own, but she still found herself carefully adjusting her clothes and makeup in the mirror. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, she just… needed this time to go uncommented on. Ruby often insisted on working on 'team attacks', and she was fine with that, she even lived with the stupid names her team leader and the blond-buffoon from team JNPR had come up with! It was just… difficult.

She felt unpolished, raw, like the abrasion she was ignoring from when she'd misjudged the strength of her glyph and found herself crashing to the ground like a crippled bird. She hated that feeling, that overwhelming sense of disgust and disappointment and frustration so overpowering that she could weep tears of blood, and she despised showing that part of her to her team. It wasn't entirely rational, she knew that, but it had been the mindset she'd accepted as necessary to escape her father. She was no child, she knew her father had done everything in his power to keep her from her dream; To keep her caged and obedient, a pretty little doll to be trotted out for social events and then sequestered away with books and tutors and silence.

Her father had told her combat instructors that he expected perfection, and they'd taken that to heart. They'd refused to move on until she could do the basics without a hair out of place.

So, she had.

Not with their help, of course, she laughed at the thought of that. She'd practiced until her muscles screamed; She'd drilled every movement, every twitch, until she could recite the names and functions of each muscle group as they flexed and pulled. Alphabetically. Weiss had always excelled in her studies, something she knew her father approved of, but she was certain he'd never considered that she might put her considerable mental might behind what he viewed as a childish delusion.

She'd proved him wrong.

Her glyphs, the gift of her blood, became her shield and sword. While she still struggled with some of the more complicated ones, she excelled at using the basic speed and platform glyphs to dart around the battlefield with the fury and unpredictability of a blizzard. When her tutors had asked her to master her movement, she had, and then she did it in high heels just a prove a point.

They didn't get in her way much after that.

Her father still tried, of course, but without much success. Weiss was a Schnee and he had no one but himself to blame for reminding her of that; When he'd tried to restrict the time she spent with her tutors, she'd simply done what he'd always had his servants teach her: She'd taken things into her own hands. Her father had ensured his daughter would know how to find and analyze information, how to make and use connections to get what she wanted, and she'd weaponized what she knew without a hint of hesitation. She watched and analyzed tournament records, she made contact with famous huntsman and huntresses during social events, she reached out to Winter; Anything and everything she could think of to give her the edge she needed. It took years. Years in which she fought tooth and nail to keep up with the course load her father forced upon her to keep her from her practice. Years in which food and rest became secondary concerns.

Privately, during some of her less secure moments, she wondered if the stress had affected her growth.

Finally, when she felt she was ready, she approached her father with her Beacon application.

It hadn't gone well.

Of course, she'd been perfectly aware that it wouldn't, and had therefore made the executive decision to make her intentions of being a huntress known at an event. The public had adored the idea of the Schnee heiress fighting for the people's benefit. Privately, she knew that many simply enjoyed the thought of the prim and proper lady before them being forced to muck it with the rest of them and were secretly hoping to watch her fail. It did little to dissuade her, and even less to deter the positive effects her announcement had on the Schnee brand.

Exactly as planned.

Her father had little choice but to allow her to try. Oh, she played up the earnest-but-misguided daughter act a bit, made sure to make him feel that he was still the big man in charge by allowing her to strike out on her own. Her desire to be out of Atlas and away from under the restrictive eyes of her family became an opportunity for her father to 'manipulate any news coming from Vale to make it more complimentary to the Schnee brand'; Her desire to go without a bodyguard became 'evidence that a Schnee can stand on their own two feet without help from the rabble'. It always helped to make her father believe that every idea was his own.

She'd thought she had him.

Then his knight-like Grimm had left its mark on her features. The scar across her eye would forever serve as a reminder of her insolence. She'd tried at first to view it as a trophy of battle, something she no-doubt shared with other men and women in her field. A head-start if you will.

She knew better.

Her father hadn't accidently selected a type of Grimm that possessed far more intelligence and cunning than any a fledgling huntress would be forced to face on for his little test. She doubted he wanted her dead, of course, and her success proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to the masses that her skills were the real deal. However, it also marred her beauty and left him with the option to declare her unfit for political marriage. An heiress without heirs.

Her scar marked her in many ways, but she was disgusted to find that the one she saw in the mirror was a reminder of her father's power over her life. She may be heiress in name, but the scar was a constant reminder that even that was subject to change.

Weiss' eyes widened as she came back to herself and found her hand delicately tracing the edges of her brand. Snapping her arm back to her side and straightened her posture on reflex, ignoring her ankle, she marched out of the locker rooms with her head held high. She knew now that she was only here on her father's good graces, but she'd still gotten there on her own power. She could find something to be proud of in that, even if it meant playing her father's game.

As she made her way back to her dorm room, Weiss pulled out her scroll and opened her schedule. Like herself, it was neat and organized; A simple glance was all she needed to determine that she could simply push her bedtime back to catch up on the studying she'd been planning to do. Nodding her head in satisfaction, she opened her to-do list for the simple satisfaction of slashing through another box and froze.

She'd never marked off the assignment for Grimm studies.

Weiss kept her features schooled, it wouldn't do to have a meltdown in the hallway after all, but students passing by still swerved to avoid her upon spotting the crease in her brow.

The heiress stepped into a side hallway and—after glancing around to ensure there were no witnesses—ran a tired hand over her face. The assignment wasn't due until the end of the week, she had time, it was fine.

Why hadn't she marked it? She knew she'd blocked off some time the previous week to—

Oh.

Her mind drifted back to the horrors of 'team movie night'.

Ruby had insisted that it was 'good for team spirit' or 'bonding' or some other tripe. Weiss had been, understandably, very skeptical of that when she'd found out just what her team leader considered to be the high point of modern cinema.

Murder Reinicorns 2: Long may they rein.

Needless to say, Ruby had needed backup to ensure the stubborn heiress attended.

It had been… a thing. Weiss normally despised people that talked during movies, but then again, she generally went to first time screenings where the tickets were astronomically expensive and the mood considerably less… relaxed.

She realized in hindsight that Yang had been baiting her, but it only took a few 'innocent' compliments from the blond about the general storytelling, set design, and special effects to set Weiss off on a diatribe that left the co—girl in stitches (she promised to be nicer, she promised to be nicer, she promised to—).

Yang had been throwing some seriously smug looks her sister's way the entire time Weiss had been having her… moment, and Ruby had moved to defend the movie with vehemence. It hadn't impressed the heiress.

No Ruby, a movie wasn't good because it was supposed to be bad. It was just bad.

Blake had chosen that point to helpfully pipe up with her belief that some works of fictions had what she referred to as a 'cringe appeal'. Weiss had given her a look that conveyed, quite succinctly, exactly what she thought of that; Yang had been laughing too hard to contribute much more the conversation.

The movie had quickly devolved into Yang baiting Weiss' ever increasingly irate rants about the general quality of the picture with Ruby mounting a plucky, if misguided, defense. Even Blake eventually got involved, drily pointing out flaws in her teammates arguments while sneaking peeks at a book she had hidden on the side facing away from their aggravated leader.

Funnily enough, the movie had brought the team closer together, just not necessarily the way Ruby had wanted. Yang had tried to soothe over her sister's irritation by promising to put on a 'kick ass movie' the next time they got together for team movie night, but her words hadn't helped much.

In the end, Ruby had declared them all 'heathens with no taste' and had stolen the disc (a good choice, as Weiss had been planning on burning the abomination first chance she got) before fleeing the room. Weiss might have started to feel a little guilty about that, but Yang had assured her that Ruby's taste in media had never matured much further than the third grade; Their team leader was rather infamous in her family for forcing these movies down everyone's throats.

They had made their peace over it eventually, but only after Weiss had been forced to swallow her pride and admit to some appreciation for the character designs. It had been the best she could offer.

Weiss groaned as she slid her scroll shut and allowed herself a moment to enjoy the solid presence of the wall at her back. Her muscles ached, her head hurt, her ankle was giving her hell, and now she'd have to rework her schedule again. She glanced around the empty hallway before letting some choice curse words (thanks Yang) to slip out; It was most satisfying, if only she'd known more of them sooner.

Pulling herself together, Weiss marched back to her room. Plans swirled about in her tired brain, and she took a little longer than usual to consider them before deciding on one she liked as she opened the door to find her bed distinctly occupied.

Weiss blinked blankly at the blanket fort that had consumed her living space on the bottom bunk before running a tired hand down her face and biting back the first several responses that rose to her lips.

She'd promised to be nicer, she'd promised—

After nearly half a minute of deliberating, she eventually settled on a slightly tired: "Ruby, what are you doing?"

The blanket fort 'eeped', linen rustling as its occupant flinched at the sound of her voice. Weiss winced; She might have sounded a tad more aggrieved than she'd intended.

Weiss' wince deepened as her teammate flailed about in a spastic, if not hazardous to the bedding, attempt to free themselves. It was only when she heard the panicked attempts to muffle a scroll that the truth finally dawned on her. Weiss wasted little time marching over to tear the sheets out of the way, for once heedless of the expensive silk she often had to fight to keep out of the other girl's filthy clutches. "Ruby!" She snapped, "Are you using my bed to watch your stupid cartoons again?!"

Panicked silver eyes shot up to meet frosty blue and Ruby Rose, prodigy huntress and leader of team RWBY, turned bright red and started babbling.

Weiss honestly didn't catch most of it. The girl's semblance was supposed to only affect her movement speed, but nobody had apparently let her mouth in on that fact. All she got from the embarrassed girl was something about 'brightness' and the difficulty of stringing ropes from the ceiling again.

The heiress sighed, knowing that it would probably be wise to interrupt before Ruby knocked someone out with her desperate hand-gestures. "Ruby." She said, pinching the bridge of her nose in a gesture that was becoming more and more familiar the more time she spent around her younger teammate, "Could you please just explain why you're not studying like you're supposed to be?"

Ruby, still the color of her namesake, puffed her cheeks out in a vicious pout. "I was, I'm just taking a little break is all!"

Weiss bristled before taking a few subtly calming breaths. Nicer; She'd promised. "Ruby, you wouldn't commandeer my bed to take a 'little break', how long have you been at this?"

Team RWBY's leader shrunk under Weiss' furious glare, "Ok… so maybe it wasn't a 'little' break?" She confessed awkwardly, pushing her index fingers together without meeting the heiress' eyes.

Weiss' admittedly tenuous self-control snapped, "Ruby!" She shrieked, "We've talked about this, you don't have time to be watching these—these stupid kid cartoons if you're going to catch up!"

Ruby, the red in her face now coming from something distinctly different from embarrassment, leapt to her feet. "They're not cartoons Weiss, they're anime! What is your problem with the stuff I like?!"

"My 'problem' is that you're not taking this seriously enough!" Weiss exploded, "You were moved up two years Ruby, you have to work harder if you're going to keep up with the curriculum!"

"I am!" Ruby cried out indignantly, "It's hard and you weren't coming back and—"

"Of course it won't be easy, you can't just expect to skate by on—"

"—I need breaks, you can't seriously think I'm going to—"

"ENOUGH!"

The word hit like a mortar shell as the door was flung open, and both girls flinched apart as Yang burst into the room. The blonde's eyes flashed crimson as the air around her superheated and both Weiss and Ruby found themselves leaning back from a very terrifyingly literal example of their teammate's fiery temper.

"Just what in the name of dust is going on here?" Yang shouted, her voice booming off the walls of their room.

Weiss would have liked to say that she mounted a concise and composed argument to get her point across, but as it was, she wasn't much better than Ruby as they both scrambled to explain themselves.

"SHUT UP!" Yang erupted, silencing their—ugh—babbling. Yang's eyes slowly bled back to their normal lilac, "One at a time." The blond growled.

"She's being mean to me!" Ruby burst out, pointing an accusing finger at Weiss.

"What?!" Weiss shrieked, "I am not—"

"One. At. A time." Yang ground out through clenched teeth. Weiss snapped her mouth shut and glowered at her, but only after making sure the other girl's eyes hadn't shifted.

Yang glared at the heiress long enough to determine that she would stay quiet, then turned the heat of her eyes on her sister, "Ruby," She said tightly, "Finish explaining; Then it's Weiss' turn."

"She won't lay off." Ruby grumbled, pouting at the ground, "I'm working my tail off, I just wanted to take a break and watch a few episodes but she just says it's for kids and she's never watched it so it's really unfair of her to—"

Yang cut her sister off before Ruby's complaints could increase any further in pitch, "Okay Ice Queen, you're up."

Weiss frowned at the nickname, but by this point had calmed down enough to actually present an argument. She drew herself up to her full height (which, incidentally, put her about eye-level with Yang's collar bone. Ugh.) and schooled her features into placid neutrality. "Ruby's starting off at a disadvantage when it comes to her academics." The heiress stated primly, "She may think I'm being harsh, but I really am just concerned about her falling further behind."

Rolling her eyes, Yang moved to shut the door before leaning against it. "So big whoop then," She said, waving a hand dismissively, "You both got a point, so just drop it."

"But—"

Yang didn't miss a beat in deploying Ember Celica. "Drop. It."

"But that's not fair!" Ruby burst out, shocking both of her teammates, "She's always doing this, and I am trying! She treats me like I'm barely keeping up with my classes, but I'm doing fine! She never believes in me!"

Weiss' frown deepened; had she really been treating her friend like that? She knew she could be… difficult, but she was only trying to make sure Ruby performed at the highest level she was capable of.

"I don't need to get a perfect score on every test, I don't even want to!" Ruby continued, and to Weiss' shock her leader's eyes were glistening. She'd never seen Ruby brought anywhere near the verge of tears before. Had she been pushing the younger girl too hard? She'd been working with Ruby for weeks, but she'd just assumed the other girl would adjust to the way Weiss handled things.

Except… Weiss was a perfectionist, she accepted that about herself. Perhaps she needed to accept that Ruby wasn't.

Weiss bit her lip, feeling somehow smaller, "Ruby, I—"

"It's like she thinks she's my mom or something! Well I'm sorry I'm struggling, I'm sorry I'm not perfect, this stuff isn't easy for me! You don't know what it's like to not have all of this come naturally!"

…Easy…?

Weiss straightened abruptly.

Was the little girl who'd gotten in two years early for being a prodigy telling her, Weiss Schnee, that she didn't understand what hard work was?

Nicer. The voice in her head, the one that sounded oddly like Ruby, was quieter than it had been before. Still, it calmed Weiss just enough to prevent her from full on screaming.

Ruby froze when glacial blue eyes bored into her soul, but only Yang seemed to fully understand the minefield they'd accidently tread upon. "Weiss, she didn't—"

Weiss ignored her and turned on her heel to stalk out of the room.

The wrong heel, as it turned out.

A bolt of pain hit her like a lightning strike, and she let out a cry as her ankle gave out on her. Yang caught her, of course, but because Weiss' day apparently hadn't been humiliating enough the blond caught her awkwardly and she ended up getting a face-full of the fiery girl's generous…ness.

Perfect.

"Weiss!" Ruby cried out in alarm, zipping across the room to support her friend, "Weiss, what happened, are you alright?"

"Get off." Weiss seethed, pushing the sisters off her and staggering over to catch herself on the wall. "I'm fine."

"Weiss, you're pretty clearly not fine—"

"I'm perfect, remember?" Weiss hissed, hitting Ruby with a glare that was practically sub-zero, making the younger girl wilt. A flicker of guilt flashed through her, but Weiss viciously stomped it down and stalked out of the room. Her ankle throbbed, and she snarled silently at it as she made her way down the hall to a nearby common room. She honestly wasn't surprised when Yang caught up to her there.

The blond huntress didn't bother to get the door for Weiss, but whether that was out of respect for the icy girl's independent streak or irritation at the treatment of her sister was up for debate.

"Weiss."

"I know!" Weiss snarled, the pain and guilt making her snappish. Her voice bounced off the walls of the room and she flinched, half expecting Yang's temper to rear its head, but the other girl just gave her a look with one eyebrow raised. Weiss took a deep breath. "I know." She tried again, "I haven't been very understanding. I'll apologize later."

Yang rolled her eyes as she ambled over to one of the couches and kicked her boots up on the table, utterly and infuriatingly indifferent to Weiss' disapproving scowl from where she stood against the wall. "Awesome, glad to hear it Weiss-Cream." The blond said cheerfully, "But not really what I wanted to talk about."

Despite herself, Weiss felt a prickle of apprehension crawl up her spine. As much as it galled her to admit it, the girl in front of her was a superior fighter and she didn't relish the thought of being trapped in close quarters with the girl if she was angry. Especially not after having a blowout with Ruby. Yang had a protective streak and it wouldn't have surprised the heiress if she'd already amassed a body count. Weiss viciously stamped down on any nervous reactions, faced the dragon with a placid expression, and waited.

Yang sighed, "Look, it's not anything bad," She hesitated, "Okay, well, nothing like what you might be thinking." The young huntress puffed out another breath and ran a hand over her face, "I think you're working yourself too hard."

Weiss' mask dropped in shock, "What?"

"Look, we've known each other for a while now, yeah?" Yang didn't wait for a response, plowing on while Weiss scrambled to compose herself, "No offense, but I've seen you get" She cut off abruptly to give the door a suspicious look before leaning forward to whisper: "Bitchy, before. You explode at little things, have yourself a good ol' rant, and calm down; Helps blow off steam, I get it, believe me. Thing is, I haven't seen you get all quiet and arctic like that before."

Weiss scowled, but elected to let the 'bitchy' comment pass. She'd never admit it out loud, but she might have deserved it. "So I was upset back there, what's your point?"

"My point," Yang sniffed, "Is that your tiffs with Ruby don't usually end with you going silent and walking out of the room; I'm not sure I've ever seen you let someone else get in the last word."

Weiss scowled, "She had a point, I wasn't going to argue that. I may have been pushing her too hard."

"Not any harder than you push yourself." Yang reminded her off-handedly, casually digging under her nails for dirt.

Weiss blinked before fixing the blond with an appraising look, "What are you doing?" She said suspiciously, "You're not supposed to be taking my side here."

Yang did that awful giggle-snort thing she did (Weiss had the feeling that her father would scream if he heard it), and smiled at her, "You've gotta' be an only child, ain't cha' Weiss-Cream."

"I am not!" Weiss said indignantly, "I have an older sister and a younger brother."

"Well, then your older sister isn't doin' her job right if you're not used to a big-sis talk."

Weiss straightened her spine and flashed Yang a look that could have cut a Nevermore in twain, "How dare you! Winter is the epitome of perfection and a shining pillar for all young huntresses to aspire to be! She is a first-class specialist with a spotless record of unimpeachable conduct and—"

"And there's what I'm talking about." Yang interrupted her, digging a finger into one of her ears, "That's the kind of Weiss blowout I'm used to seeing: Loud and painful to listen to, but not too bad if you can cut it off early."

To Weiss' eternal horror, she felt her face heating up, "So, what?" She spat, "Are you going somewhere with this, or are you just looking for more chances to humiliate me?"

Yang blinked, and for the first time in the conversation she put her feet down to give Weiss her full attention. "My point," She said quietly, "Is that I've known you long enough to be able to tell when something's eating at you. I think we all have. You've been stretching yourself thin recently, studying with Ruby, training, schoolwork, all that jazz."

"I don't want your pity Xiao-Long."

"Ouch, busting out the last name already? The only thing I pity about you is your sense of humor, Weiss-Cream."

Blue eyes bulged, "You—"

Yang flashed her teeth in a feral grin, "Heh. I'm being serious here though, Weiss. I think you need to take a break when the weekend rolls around and do something fun."

"I'm not going to a bar with you, Xiao-Long."

Yang's smile turned practically predatory, "What, you tellin' me our favorite little Schnee's got no backbone?"

"No, I'm telling you she has a brain." Weiss returned frostily, "And that better not have been another stab at my height."

"Heh, fair enough, but I meant something you enjoyed doing." Yang said, dodging the accusation easily.

"I enjoy training."

"No, I enjoy training. You just don't feel satisfied unless you're doing something productive."

Weiss bristled, "Isn't that the same thing?"

"Nope." Yang said, popping the 'p', "Washing dishes can be satisfying but it's not exactly an activity you do for fun." Weiss gave her a blank look and Yang sighed, "Right, never mind. Point is that I want you doing something relaxing."

Weiss narrowed her eyes dangerously at the other girl, "You can't stop me from training."

Yang gave Weiss a smile that was equal parts smug and malicious, "Maybe. But I can be there for every. Single. Session. Got a new jokebook y'know; Been looking for someone to try some of the lines on."

Despite herself, Weiss shivered. "I hate you."

"Psh. Nobody hates me, I'm the fun one."

Weiss didn't dignify that with a comment. Honestly, she didn't know why she expected anything different, Yang wasn't the type of girl to not get exactly what she wanted. Then again, neither was she.

"I'll look into it." Weiss muttered, pushing all her exhaustion into her voice, forcing it to come out defeated. She would look into it of course, but she made no promises of actually following through.

Yang must have seen the deceit in her eyes because she just sighed. "C'mon, you've gotta be able to think of something. You talked about Winter a lot, did you two ever do anything nice and relaxing together?"

Despite herself, Weiss considered the question. She'd been very young when Winter had made the decision to become a specialist, so she hadn't been able to see much of her sister after she'd thrown herself into training. Not that she blamed Winter, of course, she understood that their father hadn't exactly given his oldest daughter a choice. Jacques Schnee was a man with power and influence who was more than willing to wield them like a cudgel against all who went against his wishes, even if they were his own children. Winter had found her out by joining the specialists; Weiss had tried to emulate her by escaping to Beacon, but even now she could feel his shadow over her with every decision she made.

She couldn't afford to stumble, couldn't afford to look weak, or he'd have her dragged back to that still manor with a snap of his spindly fingers. Was this how Winter had felt when she'd left?

Her memories of the time were vague, but she knew Winter had clashed with her father numerous times behind closed doors. Winter had done the best she could to spend time with her, but she'd always been able to tell that her sister had had other things on her mind. She'd always assumed that Winter had simply prioritized her training and dreams over pointless indulgences, but had their father's meddling really been the influence that robbed her of the same bond Ruby and Yang shared?

A hazy memory drifted to the surface, and Weiss grasped for it like a lifeline.

"We… we went to a spa once." She said hesitantly, her voice missing its characteristic edge as she let the softer memory wash over her.

For once, Yang's smile was as soft as her hair, "That sounds like a good memory. Maybe consider doing that."

As if. There'd be little point without Winter there beside her. "I'll do that." Weiss said evasively.

"Good." Yang said with a smug grin, pushing herself to her feet, "I got stuff to do, then."

Weiss snorted, but generously didn't argue the other girl's claim. Yang made it almost all the way to the door before she paused, "Don't avoid her for long." She said quietly, "She was really worried about you. She's actually the one who asked me to come, figured you wanted some space. Just don't let it be too long."

Blue eyes, naturally cold and sharp, softened. "I know." Weiss murmured. Then, because it would be most rude not to say it, "Thank you."

"Heh, anytime Weiss-Cream." Yang said, giving her a lazy salute over one shoulder as she left the room, leaving the heiress alone with her thoughts once more.

Weiss let out the breath she'd been holding unconsciously and primly took a seat on one of the armchairs. She couldn't work on that report for Grimm Studies without her materials… but she wasn't ready to return to her room yet. Besides, she already had a general idea of what she wanted to do; She could sketch out the basic outline with little trouble. Time would pass regardless of whether she could make the most out of it or not. She was Weiss Schnee, she'd be efficient with what time she had.

But was it because she the Schnee her father had molded her into, or was it just a part of being Weiss?

/*/

Ruby's behavior in the coming days was… off. Weiss had wasted little time apologizing, formally asking Ruby to forgive her behavior and swearing on her honor as a Schnee be more accommodating. Ruby had stammered out something about forgiveness and apologized for her words. It had been an awkward, stilted affair.

Weiss had hoped that it would be enough to forgive and forget. Things should have gone back to normal.

They didn't.

It hurt.

Ruby was cheery, upbeat, and had had the kind of 'can do' attitude Weiss could only dream of possessing. Weiss was confident in her abilities, but she always carefully considered her actions for fear of overstepping her limits; Her team liked to call her a pessimist, but Weiss preferred to think of herself as practical. Ruby, however, was an optimist to the core. It drove the heiress up the wall at times, but she knew deep down that she'd never dream of changing that part of her quirky leader. If she was being honest with herself, Ruby inspired her. There was something about her boundless optimism that made Weiss feel as if everything would work out for the better; Made her feel like everything would be okay. She needed that in her life.

And now she was losing it.

The week crawled by, but Ruby could barely make eye contact with her. Worse, she'd reverted to the stammering mess Weiss had so misjudged on the first day of initiation.

She'd never thought she'd miss her partner excitedly talking her ears off about some new dust round or weapon oil. Now Ruby was uncharacteristically subdued when she even managed to speak with Weiss, and it didn't take a mind reader to spot the guilt lurking behind her silver eyes; Didn't take one to guess the reason either: Ruby had meant what she said, they'd been her true thoughts and even if she apologized for them there was no hiding them any longer. It made sense, really. Weiss had pushed her too far without listening to the warning signs, of course Ruby would need time to work through her feelings and decide if she even wanted to keep putting up with her.

Ruby just needed space.

Weiss was fine with that, she was. So when the bags of cookies started showing up on her bed, or when she came back to find Ruby studiously working through the exercises she'd recommended, she did everything she could to pretend that they were the actions of a friend trying their best to cheer her up instead of seeing them as little apologies for the distance steadily growing between them.

Finally, it was Friday. Weiss picked at her lunch awkwardly, not feeling especially hungry and trying desperately not to react to the little considering looks her partner occasionally threw her way. A part of her wanted to scold her team leader for ignoring her own food (out of their teammates, they were the most in need of development. Girls like them stuck together.), but she knew it would be unwelcome. Neither of them seemed to have much of an appetite these days anyway.

One of the few benefits of sitting with the blond buffoon's team was that the conversation carried on just fine without her and her partner. She didn't mind the company of at least two of the members of team JNPR, but Nora baffled her and the less she said about their leader the better. Still, their presence allowed Weiss to feel comfortable excusing herself after she spent what felt to be a sufficient amount of time rearranging the contents of her plate.

Ruby was right in front of her.

A bead of sweat rolled down Weiss' back as she made eye contact with her leader and forced on a plastic smile. "My apologies." She said formally, stepping out of the way, "I didn't mean to get in your way, Ruby."

Ruby seemed to wilt, and Weiss struggled to keep the polite mask on her face. What had she done wrong?! She had tried to be as polite as possible, had she somehow still insulted the other girl?

"N-nice weather we're having, a-amiright?" Ruby stammered inexplicably.

Blue eyes blinked as Weiss tried to make heads or tails of the statement. "It is quite agreeable." Her mouth said on reflex.

Ruby seemed to wilt even further; Weiss wanted to scream. She cast around her mind for something to say, anything to break the awkward silence, but came up blank. Ruby stared into her soul the whole time, her silver eyes desperately trying to convey some message that eluded the heiress. She turned away. "I'll see you in class, then."

"R-right."

As Weiss walked away, she couldn't help but feel that she'd failed some kind of test. What would it take for things to go back to normal?

A flash of red sped by her, and she was buffeted by a shower of rose petals. "Ruby, wha—"

There was no sign of the other girl, but for the flyer gently floating to the ground in front of her. Weiss snatched it out of the air and tucked it away with a grimace. It was entirely possible that the excitable girl was just eager to get to class, but the twisting sensation in her gut told her that wasn't true.

Weiss hung her head low and made her way to class without any of her usual arrogance.

There was another flier sitting in front of her usual spot.

Weiss blinked down at it, this time taking the time to glance over the contents of the paper before glancing up at where her team leader sat two seats down. "Er, Ruby, I think you left your spa fliers out? You dropped one in the cafeteria as well and—"

She was babbling, oh dust she was babbling. The heiress clamped her mouth shut with an audible click, cheeks turning pink.

Ruby stared at her like she'd grown a third head, and Weiss felt herself flushing further. The younger girl seemed to snap back to herself with a blink, then coughed delicately and fixed her eyes firmly on Weiss' nose, "I didn't leave any fliers out." She lied. The lie was so painfully obvious Weiss almost cringed with her whole body.

Maybe she needed to handle this with more tact? "Ruby," Weiss said carefully, "You ran by me and dropped the first flier, and you're the only one in the room right now. Nobody else could have left this here."

It was Ruby's turn to have pink blossom across her cheeks, "Th-that's not true!" She cried, eyes darting this way and that as if desperately searching for an escape, "Jaune! Jaune was here earlier, maybe he left it!"

Despite knowing that there was literally no way in Remnant he had left the flier, Weiss still shifted her grip to hold it carefully between two fingers. "Ruby," She said reasonably, which was to say not reasonably at all, "He was still eating in the cafeteria when I left."

"He can teleport!"

"No, he can't!" Weiss snapped, finally losing her temper.

"We don't know his semblance!" Ruby countered desperately, "You don't know that he can't teleport!"

"Ruby, if that blundering buffoon ever gets a semblance that isn't as useless as he is, I'll let him braid my hair!" Weiss retorted, her voice cracking off the walls around them.

"Hey! Jaune's an awesome guy, you can't just—"

"I'm sorry, okay!?" Weiss snarled, getting right up in her leader's face.

Silver eyes went wide, "W-what?"

"I'm. Sorry." Weiss tried to hiss, but it was somewhat ruined when her voice broke at the end, "Ruby I-I—" She broke off, blinking furiously, trying to force the liquid pooling in her eyes back with sheer willpower alone.

"Weiss, I—"

"No!" Weiss interrupted, growing desperate, "Ruby I'm so sorry, I should have listened and I didn't, and now you're—" Her voice broke again, and she had to swallow past the lump in her throat. "I didn't, I-I can't—I don't want to lose—Ruby, I'm sorry."

Silver eyes glistened like stars, and then Weiss was thrown back by the impact of a fourteen-year-old girl flinging herself into her chest with the force of a cannonball. "Weiss!" Ruby sobbed, squeezing the heiress hard enough to make the white-haired girl see stars.

"R-Ruby, can't—urk—can't brea—"

"I'm SO sorry, I shouldn't have said what I did and I regret it but then you were so cold and I didn't know how to make things better and then you started ignoring me and I thought for sure you hated me because I was a big insensitive poop-head and you were just trying to help and you can be a bit harsh sometimes but you were still trying and I just screamed at you when you were trying to be better and-then-I-couldn't-fix-anything-so-I-thought-I'd-try-and-show-you-how-I-felt-but-you-didn't-get-it-and-then—"

Weiss' vision was fading at this point, and she only caught about half of the words spoken. Still, they filled her with hope, so she employed the only tactic she could. She managed to work one of her hands that wasn't trapped in Ruby's death-hug up into the other girl's armpit and pushed it in.

Gods she was glad neither her father nor her sister were here to see this, they'd be apoplectic.

Ruby let out a surprised shriek, her entire body convulsing before she threw herself off Weiss like an exorcised Geist. Weiss hacked for breath before glancing up to meet the betrayed eyes of her leader.

"Oh, come on!" Ruby shrieked indignantly, "Did Yang tell everyone about that?!"

"You were killing me!" Weiss screamed breathily.

"Pff, wuss." Ruby said, making a show out of rolling her eyes.

"Ruby!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Ruby grumbled, kicking at the ground like an aggrieved toddler. Weiss found herself smiling, she couldn't believe how much she'd missed seeing it.

"Neither of us is really used to having friends, are we?" Weiss asked with a sad quirk to her lips. Ruby flushed, but nodded shyly, and Weiss felt herself mirror the expression. "In that case, maybe we could promise to be clearer about our feelings in the future. I—" She broke off with an awkward cough, "I'm not really that good at this, Ruby."

"Heh, neither am I." Ruby replied with an awkward chuckle before extending her hand with one pinkie outstretched, "I promise." Weiss stared blankly at the proffered finger, and Ruby giggled before reaching forward and drawing Weiss' own hand up to link their little fingers. Weiss, not really knowing what to do, shook them.

"So—er—it's a deal then?" She asked, feeling a bit lost.

"Not a deal, a pinkie-swear." Ruby said sagely.

"Is there a difference?"

Ruby paused to think, "Well, if you break this one you gotta cut off your pinkie."

"WHAT?"

Ruby burst out laughing; She did the same giggle-snort thing her sister did, Weiss noted distantly. "I'm kidding!" Ruby giggled, punching Weiss lightly on the shoulder, her silver eyes dancing with amusement.

"Right, of course, that'd be barbaric." Weiss said hurriedly, rubbing her shoulder, not meeting her team leader's eyes.

"It's just something Yang and I used to do." Ruby continued, her voice sounding abruptly shy, "A promise between sisters."

Had Winter ever done anything like that? There had been secrets they'd shared, but her sister had been taken away from her by duty so long ago Weiss could hardly recall what they were. She couldn't blame Winter, she'd made the same choice to fight against her father's expectations after all. She'd just… never had what she might have had on such blatant display before. Her chest grew cold as Weiss felt an abrupt surge of irrational jealousy. "Right." She said, her voice sounding hollow and brittle to her own ears, "I'm sure."

She felt Ruby's eyes on her, far too knowing for her tastes, "Well, now it's a promise between us." Ruby said softly.

Weiss looked up abruptly, and Ruby gave her a smile that was equal parts nervous and hopeful. The ice that had gripped her heart receded, and she gave her friend a relieved smile, "I'd like that, Ruby."

"Not as much as you're going to like this!" Ruby crowed, flashing away before reappearing with one of the fliers in hand. Weiss squinted down her nose to try and make out the print being shoved in her face. "Yang told me you went to a spa with your sister, so I thought maybe you'd like to go somewhere similar for the weekend!"

Was it possible for someone's heart to twist and melt at the same time? "Ruby, I'm touched, but I'm not sure I want to go without—"

"I'll go with you!" Ruby cut in, her cherubic face set in stubborn determination.

Weiss blinked, then gave her team lead a once-over. "Er, Ruby," She said, pointedly looking at the other girl's conservatively cut hair, short nails, and utter lack of makeup, "I'm not sure you'd enjoy it that much."

"Oh no, I won't." Ruby admitted shockingly easily, "But that's not really the point, is it?"

"Uh." Weiss tried.

"Look, you watched my movie with me, is it so weird that I want to do something you want to do?" Ruby said defensively.

"Didn't you run out of the room and call me a 'heathen' for not liking it?"

"Exactly," Ruby cried, snapping her fingers at Weiss like she'd just proven a point, "So that means you can't complain if I complain!"

"I'm not sure this is a good idea."

Ruby stomped her foot in what was an admittedly adorable display of impotent rage, "Friends do activities together, Yang told me so!"

"Ruby—"

"No!" Ruby shrieked, stabbing a finger at Weiss, "You're going to the spa with me, and you're going to be pretty and relaxed and you're going to love it!"

Weiss was trying very hard to hold back her laughter at this point, "Ruby I—"

"And we'll have fun, and you'll think it was a great idea, and you'll be all like: 'Wow, that Ruby girl is really, really cool. And I'm glad she's my friend."

"Okay." Weiss choked out, biting down hard on her lip to keep the laughter inside, "I'm looking forward to it, Ruby."

"Good." Ruby said, obviously trying to look collected as she stepped back with a nod that made her look like a bobblehead, "You should call in and make an appointment!"

"I will." Weiss said with an amused smile.

Ruby seemed to struggle for words for a moment, then she flung her arms around the heiress for the second time. Weiss went stiff, then carefully reached up to return the embrace.

It was… it was nice. All the stress seemed to float away a single shining moment, and she melted into the hug.

Then Ruby pulled back with a smile, "I'll go get the team!" She said hurriedly, looking happier than she had for days before zipping out of the room.

Weiss smiled, feeling as if a weight had been taken off her shoulders, and carefully picked up the flier before righting her chair and sitting down. She considered it for just a moment before dialing the number provided and holding the scroll up to her ear.

She went through the usual steps of making an appointment but hesitated when she was asked to give a name for the reservation. Years of conditioning told her to respond with 'Schnee'. It was a name that opened doors after all.

And yet…

The ingrained words hovered on the tip of her tongue, then her resolve firmed. "Weiss." She said with certainty.

It felt right.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, been a while since I've updated this one. I won't offer excuses, but things have been pretty crazy with my job and I've only recently been able to find the time I needed to dedicate to my writing.
> 
> Anyway, I need to give a big thanks to JBlaser for the story idea! (And for their patience...)
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for giving my story a read, your comments give me LIFE!  
> Stay healthy, stay happy!
> 
> -Amaratsu

"Ruby."

"I'm serious, Weiss, what if they say my toes look weird?!"

"Ruby."

"I hate it when Yang tickles my feet, I'm not sure I'm ready for this!"

"Rub—"

"What if I giggle in the middle of it, or they think my feet smell but they're too nice to say it and—"

"RUBY!" Weiss shrieked, making several onlookers jump and quickly avert their eyes, "We're in public, pull yourself together!"

Ruby Rose, the youngest team leader to ever walk the hallowed halls of Beacon academy, ducked her head guiltily at Weiss' tone. "Sorry." The girl mumbled, "I'm just nervous, I thought it was just going to be a quick make-up thing or something."

Weiss cringed a little at her friends defeated tone. She'd made the reservation under the assumption that Ruby had wanted the full experience, and while she wouldn't say that she regretted her actions, even she was willing to admit that they might have been a little… presumptuous. "You'll be fine, Ruby." She said gently, but not without glancing around to ensure no one was listening to her uncharacteristically soft tone, "No one's going to make you do anything you're uncomfortable with and I can personally assure you that the staff will treat you with the utmost respect."

"It's not really them I'm worried about." Ruby mumbled.

Weiss blinked, but before she could further question the other girl, they rounded the corner and came into sight of their destination.

Silver eyes widened comically, and Ruby locked in place with a panicked whine, "Weiss, I can't do this!" She whisper-hissed desperately.

"Wha—Ruby I—"

"I'm a grease monkey Weiss!" Ruby moaned, her eyes darting around in clear panic, "I don't belong in a fancy-pants place like that! You should have just left me in my room, covered in oil, like the dirty geek girl I—"

Weiss wasted little time slapping her hand over her leader's mouth, flushing to the roots of her snowy hair. "Ruby. I know you love tinkering with your huntress weapon, because you're a very conscientious student of Beacon who takes exceptionally good care of her gun-scythe with the proper weapon oils and other such materials. You don't need to tell me, since I am your teammate."

Several people 'subtly' went back to what they'd been doing. Weiss breathed a sigh of relief.

Ruby evidently hadn't caught on. "Eph shmmpth apth cuvmph." She said unintelligibly, her eyes wide and watery.

"Ruby, don't talk through my hand." Weiss corrected absently, subtly making sure they weren't collecting more attention than was necessary before she released her friend.

"I shouldn't have come." The girl mumbled pathetically, "I'll just make it weird and awkward and ruin your day."

Weiss was known for many things but being warm and nurturing wasn't one of them; Neither was being patient. "You're making things weird and awkward already, and I still want you to come." She snapped, "So stop being a dolt and get inside before I drag you inside."

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked, shooting through the doorway in a semblance-enhanced blur. Weiss let out a pleased snort before following at a more sedate pace, pointedly ignoring any stares directed towards her.

The inside of the spa was warm and inviting, the walls painted a pale beige that brought to mind rolling sandy beaches or warm wood bathed in the rays of the sun. Skylights dotted the ceiling, made of opaque glass that let in just the right amount of sunlight to paint the lobby in warm colors that made her relax minutely on reflex alone. An impressive feat given that Weiss knew the building had another floor above them; The interior designer they'd hired had evidently been worth the money to produce such a convincing illusion using lights, glass, and paint. The furniture was all gentle curves and vinyl the color of sun-kissed soil. The establishment lacked the overwhelming wealth put on display by the places she'd been to before, but she found herself somewhat awed by the clever use of resources and tricks to make a suitable impression.

The heiress didn't have to search for her friend upon entering the spa, Ruby was standing to the side of the doorway looking very much like a small animal ensnared by the eyes of a predator. "Is she with you, sweetie?" A matronly woman sitting behind the front desk asked kindly, giving Weiss a gentle smile as she gestured towards her frozen leader.

Weiss repressed a groan, instead slapping a pleasant smile on her face before responding. "Yes, we're here for a treatment, under the name Weiss?"

"Of course," The woman said smoothly, "Give me just a moment to pull up the reservation and we can get you right back into a relaxing sauna, alright dear?"

"Take your time." Weiss said automatically, reaching out to grab her paralyzed leader's hand without a second thought and dragging the other girl towards the desk.

"Weiss, I'm serious," Ruby whined under her breath, eyes watering as she finally snapping out of her funk long enough to get out her complaints. Typical. "Promise you won't hate me if I'm bad at this!"

"Who could possibly be bad at being pampered?!" Weiss asked exasperatedly.

"Me!" Ruby hissed, her eyes wide and panicked as they finally arrived at the front desk.

"First time, I take it?" The receptionist asked kindly, her warm brown eyes taking in Ruby's obvious agitation. Weiss subtly elbowed her leader when she didn't immediately respond and Ruby let out a startled squeak, giving Weiss a dirty look before nodding her head violently. The receptionist's eyes somehow managed to soften even further, and she let out a melodious giggle. "There's nothing to be worried about sweetie." She said warmly, "Your friend is right, you came her for some good'ol fashioned rest and relaxation. Everyone here wants to make sure they do everything they can to make you feel happy and welcome. If you're not comfortable with something, make sure to let us know, we'll follow your lead."

Ruby perked up slightly at that last word, her silver eyes rising shyly to meet the receptionist's warm brown. "Lead." She murmured under her breath, "That's right, I'm here to lead." Ruby took a deep breath, let it out, and gave the woman at the desk a crooked smile, "Yeah, I can do that." She said hesitantly, "Thank you very much Miss Brayne."

Weiss blinked, working hard to keep the shock off her face, did Ruby know this woman?

Oh.

There was a placard on the desk giving the woman's name, and if that wasn't enough, she was also wearing a nametag… Weiss suppressed a flush, she was used to legions of workers going about their business at her family's manor, hundreds of men and women who she would often only interact with once or twice before they'd be lost to her in the cavernous halls of her silent home. It had never seemed worth the effort to try and remember the faces or names of people she'd never see again. When had she started to view all workers as nameless and faceless; Simple beings going about their business like colony ants?

The receptioni—Fawn Brayne looked equally shocked for a moment, before her earthen brown eyes melted like rich chocolate. "Sweetheart, do you have a favorite kind of cookie?" She asked warmly, "We usually stock the waiting areas with different snacks, but I've always thought that you need something a little sweeter to really relax. Also, please, call me Fawn."

"Oh, um, o-okay, and anything that's convenient!" Ruby said quickly, blushing slightly.

Fawn blew out a comically exasperated breath and fixed Ruby with an amused, but deadpan, stare; A stare she quickly transferred over to Weiss. "Her favorite is chocolate chip." Weiss provided without a hint of remorse.

"Weiss!" Ruby scolded, the image immediately ruined by the red in her cheeks and the way she stomped a foot like an indignant child.

"Friends keep you honest, Sweet-Pea." Fawn giggled, "Don't worry about a thing, it's no trouble."

"I don't want anyone to think I'm a child." Ruby grumbled under her breath.

"Honey," Fawn said seriously, "Ain't nothing childlike about a girl needing some chocolate; Anyone who tells you otherwise is either wrong or a boy. Don't get me wrong, I love my man to death, but they just don't get what us ladies go through."

"Ha!" Ruby crowed, "Eat it Jaune! I'll just tell him that next time he complains about chocolate-chip stains on our team-attack plans!"

Fawn grinned, leaning forward conspiratorially, "Oh? Jaune? That your man sweetie?"

Weiss' muscles locked up in absolute horror at the thought of the Dolt being invited into their room for—for bonding. She almost felt ill at the implications.

Oh Brothers, what would their children be like?! Weiss would be the first to admit that she'd misjudged her excitable leader, but even she sometimes needed space from the girls overwhelming positivity. What kind of Lovecraftian nightmare would a combination of Ruby's high-energy positivity and the Dolt's idiotic obliviousness be?!

"What? Oh no, no." Ruby said with a laugh, "He's just one of my friends. He's a really good guy, but I think another friend has eyes on him."

"Oh, thank the gods." Weiss said, "That clown isn't good enough for you."

"Weiss!" Ruby admonished immediately, her silver eyes flashing like naked steel in that way they only did when she was embroiled in the midst of combat or defending a loved one. It was a little impressive how her leader could switch the look in her eyes from puppy-dog to razor blades in an instant.

"Right," Weiss mumbled, then quieter, "Sorry."

"I wish you wouldn't be so hard on him." Ruby said, her voice somehow managing to come out as commanding and disappointed and everything that a fourteen-year old's shouldn't.

"Don't be too hard on her, dear." Fawn interjected, her voice sounding amused, "It's pretty clear that you've got a friend that's quite loyal. Besides, something tells me that if this Jaune pulls anything you don't like, she'll be more than willing to step in to give him a piece of her mind."

"As if." Ruby snorted, "He's basically a bunny-boy; He couldn't hurt a fly."

"I'm sure." Fawn said warmly, before shifting her eyes over to Weiss, "Some girls need a guy who's gentle and sweet, though."

What was she…?

Oh—Oh gods no!

Weiss recoiled at the thought, did Fawn think Ruby had meant her?! She was already fairly certain Ruby was misreading something when she'd claimed that someone else had been interested in the Dolt, and that was only because she wasn't sure about Nora. The orange haired explosion disguised as a girl would be crazy enough to be interested in that idiot…

Before she could defend her besmirched honor, Ruby had snorted out a laugh, "That sounds like Jaune alright, it's too bad he's so oblivious. My friend has her work cut out for her."

"Ah~ one of those," Fawn said with a wink that was just a little too directed in Weiss' direction for her comfort, "Tell your friend to keep at it, they make for incredible dad-material."

To her utter horror, Weiss felt color creep into her cheeks out of sheer mortification. She spluttered out a few unintelligible sounds but a quick glance at Ruby's raised eyebrows telling her she wasn't yet off the hook and should avoid further insulting her team leader's—ugh—friend. Nicer. A shame, since she was certain that she couldn't deny such spurious accusations without doing just that.

"As long as it's not for a while." Ruby stated with a firm pout, turning her attention back to Fawn, "I'm not ready to be a godmother yet."

"Planning that far ahead, are we?" Fawn asked with a giggle.

"Well, yeah!" Ruby enthused, "I mean, who else would they pick as godmother? I was Jaune's first ever friend, he said so! Plus I don't think the girl who's interested has many people she'd really consider…" Ruby leaned forward to fix Fawn with a sad look, "She's pretty famous, and I don't think she has a lot of people she's close to because of it."

"I see." Fawn said, her voice growing slightly more subdued, her eyes drifting over to land on Weiss' snow-white hair. The gesture wasn't subtle. Weiss' eye twitched violently.

"Yeah," Ruby said, her voice slowly regaining its enthusiasm, "So I figure I'm basically a surefire winner in this case!" She frowned abruptly, "Although he is pretty oblivious. Heh, maybe Crescent Rose and I should pay him a visit to 'remind' him of how important we are to him, eh Weiss?"

"Boys usually need to be told things that are obvious." Fawn said, but her warm eyes were directed at Weiss, "I don't think it's a bad idea at all to do just that."

"Grf." Weiss burbled, biting her tongue so hard she could taste copper. She was beginning to regret not bringing Myrtenaster along, if only because it would have made it that much easier to use a gravity glyph to smash herself into the ground and out of sight. Still, since she didn't think Ruby would approve of that or screaming and setting the whole place on fire, it was probably a good thing that she hadn't.

"I'll pass that along." Ruby said with a playful giggle, one Fawn returned. Weiss wanted to die.

"Don't worry, honey, I'm sure she'll come around soon enough." Fawn laughed, with an amused look in Weiss' direction, "Sometimes all we need is a little relaxation to get our thoughts in order."

Could… could she sue this place for defamation? No… it wasn't Fawn's fault Ruby was so vague and confusing. Should she sue Ruby? No, wait, then Yang would inevitably find out exactly what had happened, and the minor satisfaction of ensuring it would never happen again wasn't worth the level of teasing she'd receive.

Ugh.

At this point Weiss knew that any protest on her part would be viewed as token at best, and so she bore the indignity of her situation with all the grace and poise her upbringing afforded her. Not that it did her much good, mind, given the fact that she was flushed red with indignation and this close to spitting literal flames.

Thankfully, Fawn seemed to pick up on her…discomfort, and smoothly shifted the conversation towards filling out the required paperwork for first time spa visitors. As irritated as she was with the woman, Weiss couldn't help but be grateful for her presence as they worked through it. Fawn was excellent at anticipating and disarming Ruby's more panicked reactions and kept the younger girl in shockingly good cheer throughout the whole ordeal.

Finally, they were ushered into a locker room in the back. "The cookies will be in the next room over." Fawn assured them, giving both girls an affectionate smile before turning her attention back to Ruby, "You can wear your undergarments under the robes if you wish, dear, but I can personally assure you that you'll be far more comfortable without them. No one here will treat you with anything less than the greatest modicum of respect, you have nothing to worry about."

"Okay." Ruby said quietly, but she gave the woman a hesitant smile, "Thanks for everything, Fawn, you've been a huge help."

"Anytime, sweetheart." Fawn said warmly before bustling back to her station.

"She was super nice…" Ruby said thoughtfully, "I hope the rest of the staff is like her."

Weiss grumbled something under her breath that sounded like 'They better not be', but even she had to admit that Fawn had been a welcome addition to their day. The woman had Ruby wrangling skills that could put the girl's sister to shame, perhaps she owed Fawn a nice tip for getting Ruby relaxed and ready for their day out.

An inelegant squeak left the heiress' lungs as a whirlwind of red suddenly yanked her off balance, "Weiss!" Ruby whisper-shrieked, "Was I supposed to tip her!? Did I just insult her!? You know fancy-pants stuff better than me, do you think she thought I thought she wasn't that helpful because I didn't give her money!?"

Or not.

"Ruby." Weiss gasped, firmly taking the redheads hands in her own and pulling them off her collar, "You tip at the end of the experience, just like any other service, it'll be taken care of."

"Oh." Ruby said, deflating with a relieved sigh, "Well, then help me remember to put in a tip for her. She was super helpful so I think we owe her that much!"

"Oh, I owe her something alright." Weiss grumbled under her breath, although her heart wasn't really in it. She had thought she'd been quiet enough, but Ruby had uncannily good hearing at the worst of times and gave her a curious look. "Just hurry up, dolt." She snapped, flushing slightly as she pushed her way further into the locker room.

"Hey!" Ruby cried out, scrambling to keep up, "Come on Weiss, what did I do this time?! Weiss? Wait up, don't leave me!"

The heiress kept her nose firmly in the air as she walked, desperately trying to hide the pink tint that darkened her cheeks as she marched through the generously sized changing room like a returning queen. It might have worked better if Ruby hadn't practically tackled her halfway, using her semblance to catch up with her rapidly retreating partner and glomping onto her arm like an overly anxious howler monkey.

"Ruby!" Weiss hissed as she staggered under the sudden weight, one high heel making a rather concerning sound for just a moment before she managed to shift her balance and relieve it of its unexpected burden.

"Don't leave me behind like that!" Ruby hissed right back, anxious silver eyes darting towards where a few other women were storing their possessions in lockers in preparation for their treatments. A sigh left Weiss' lips, and she resigned herself to just a nod in affirmation. There would be little point in ruining all the hard work Fawn had put into relaxing Ruby.

Silver eyes seemed to peer into her soul; She must have found something there, because after a moment some of that anxious tension seemed to bleed out of her leader's expression. Weiss shifted awkwardly to her other foot, feeling a little out of her depth. Just what was she supposed to do in a situation like this? She certainly didn't feel capable of calming her leader's nerves, not like Fawn had. Sometimes she wondered just how compatible the two of them were as partners; This certainly hadn't been the first time she'd thought her personality utterly unsuited for supporting her leader.

It wouldn't have even been the first time this week…

Would Ruby have been better off having a partner more like Fawn?

With a jolt, Weiss realized Ruby was still waiting for a response. "I didn't go through the trouble of dragging you here just to abandon you the moment we'd arrived." She managed to stammer out, wrenching her eyes out of those silver pools with a palpable force of will; She didn't need Ruby seeing the hesitation and insecurity that briefly swam through her own.

Ruby stared at her for an intensely uncomfortable moment then, to Weiss' immense relief, snorted inelegantly. "Pff. You already tried to do that once, and you're still here." Ruby said, nudging Weiss affectionately, a wide grin splitting her features.

"It was the better of two bad options." Weiss rebutted stiffly, fighting to keep the relief out of her voice.

The little leader of team RWBY rolled her eyes, "One day we'll get you to admit you're a bad judge of character."

"Unlikely." Weiss said through a thin smile.

"Yeah, yeah." Ruby said, waving her comment off without a thought as she glanced around the room, "Where do we…?"

Weiss grumbled at the easy dismissal but recollected herself with a sigh in time to quickly scan the room for what she was certain her leader was looking for. "Clean robes are this way." She said with only puff of irritation, pointing towards a basket of neatly folded cloth.

"Great…" Ruby said unenthusiastically, fingering the hem of her combat skirt unconsciously.

Weiss sighed. "You can keep undergarments on beneath the robe, Ruby," She said woodenly, already certain that she was in for another patented Ruby attack, "But you can trust me when I say that you'll enjoy the experience far more without them. You have nothing to fear from the men and women who work here, they are professionals to the core."

"…Okay." Ruby said quietly.

Weiss turned to blink at her, "I'm sorry?"

"I said okay." Ruby replied, tearing worried eyes away from the basket to give Weiss a shaky smile, "I trust you, Weiss. I mean, I'm nervous, but I trust you."

Weiss felt her jaw start to drop, a horrifically unladylike expression that she immediately fought to correct before anyone could comment on it.

Unfortunately, going by the melodic giggle that emanated from her partner, she'd failed. "Oh, come on Weiss," She said with another giggle, "Is it really so surprising? I know you'd never let someone perv on me or something, you can be just as uptight as Yang sometimes when you think something isn't appropriate. Just think about that time I picked up 'Ninja's in Love'."

"That book is utterly inappropriate!" Weiss fumed immediately, her jaw coming unstuck in her righteous fury, "I have no idea how it snuck its way into our dorm room, but I once I get your sister to confess we will have words."

To the white-haired girl's intense ire, her partner broke out into another series of snickers that drew the eyes of a few of the other women in the changing room.

Ruby didn't even notice.

That, more than anything, was what abated Weiss' irritation. Ruby continued to giggle fitfully as she snatched up a fluffy robe and departed to change with a bright backwards grin, leaving Weiss all alone.

How strange life could be.

Perhaps they weren't so incompatible after all.

/*/

True to her word, Ruby giggled fitfully through their entire massage.

"You're carrying a lot of stress…" The masseuse said, surprise coloring her tone as she worked on Weiss' shoulders, "Could have sworn I just got this spot."

Weiss just groaned as another fit of giggles erupted from beside her, Ruby apologizing breathlessly in between laughs.

Their facial treatment didn't go much better. Once Ruby had grown more comfortable with the staff, expedited by the fact that they all seemed to take a liking to her unnaturally quickly, she began to detail everything she was feeling with excruciating detail and even more excruciating sound effects.

"Woah! That's cold, it's all like 'shhaww!', Weiss are you feeling this?!" Weiss just groaned again, and the man working on her chuckled under his breath.

"It can have that effect." The woman spreading the lotion on Ruby giggled softly, "I'm a little surprised you're not more familiar with it. You have very healthy skin, so I assumed you'd been here before."

"N-no," Ruby said, that nervous tone slipping back into her voice. While she'd mostly gotten over the strangers in the room, her stammer still cropped up every now and then, "I don't usually do this kind of thing, I've always been more into engineering than lotions and stuff. That's kinda my sister's thing, anyway."

"Nonsense." The woman tutted gently, "Proper skin care is hardly anyone's 'thing'. It's perfectly healthy and natural for anyone, regardless of gender or interests. All it takes is a healthy diet and a few treatments I could recommend."

"She eats cookies non-stop." Weiss grumbled petulantly, "I have no idea how her skin isn't a grease-pit."

"Pocket cookies keep me going!" Ruby snapped back defensively, coloring slightly.

Ruby's esthetician blinked, fingers slowing as she stared down at the girl beneath her. Slowly, she turned disbelieving eyes to Weiss and mouthed 'Semblance?' Weiss shook her head, lips pursed in irritation, and the esthetician let out a low whistle before getting back to her work.

"Don't worry Weiss, I'm sure your skin is pretty smooth too." Ruby said, her voice dripping with glee.

Weiss stared at her leader, her eyes narrowing ominously. "Ruby, how is your paper for Dr. Oobleck going?" She said after a moment, her voice sickly sweet.

"…Shutting up."

Weiss smiled, her perfect teeth flashing dangerously, "That's what I thought."

It couldn't have been any less like the day she'd spent with her sister all those years ago, so why did she feel like she wouldn't trade the experience for the world?

An hour or so later both girls were comfortably ensconced in their respective robes, lounging comfortably as they basked in the afterglow of their treatments. "That… that wasn't so bad…" Ruby said thoughtfully, one hand taking up permanent residence on the plate of cookies beside her as she snuggled deeper into her fuzzy robe. They'd technically finished with their planned treatments for the day, but they'd both decided to linger just a little longer and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere. Well, at least Weiss was enjoying the atmosphere; Ruby was enjoying other benefits that had less to do with relaxation and more to do with stuffing her face full of sugar.

"Ruby, surely you've had enough cookies by now…?" Weiss tried for the third time.

Ruby barely slowed down to fix her white-haired partner with an impressive stink-eye, especially considering the way she currently looked more like a chipmunk than a proper huntress. "Weiss," She mumbled imperiously through a mouthful of crumbs, "As your team leader, I order you to stop complaining and try a cookie."

"That's abusing your power, Ruby."

Ruby seemed to consider the point for a moment, thoughtfully tapping a half-eaten cookie against her chin before pointing it decisively at Weiss and saying: "Yes. Yes, it is."

The heiress let out a despairing groan but found herself indulging her leader's command; Then she found herself doing it again just because she wanted to follow the direction thoroughly and definitely not because it had been years since she'd allowed herself to indulge.

"This was actually… nice." Ruby said hesitantly after a few moments had passed in blissful silence, "I'm glad we did this, maybe we should do it again sometime."

Unbidden, Weiss' mind flashed back to the torture she went through getting the girl in sight of the front door and the humiliation she went through after. "Yeah..." She said icily, "Not for a while."

"Whaaat?!" Ruby complained, jutting her bottom lip out in a vicious pout, "Weiss, come on, you had fun! You had fun, right?" Weiss turned her face pointedly away, nose held proudly in the air to hide the smirk creeping over her features. "Weiss! Come on, don't be like that, you enjoyed spending time with me! Right? Right, Weiss?!"

"I think we should get changed and head out." Weiss said glibly, struggling to keep the amusement out of her voice as she rose to her feet and stepped daintily towards the changing rooms.

"Weiss!" Ruby pleaded despondently, trailing in the white-haired girl's wake like a scorned puppy, "Weiss, come on! Just say you had fun with me!"

Weiss did no such thing. After spending a good part of her day hearing everyone extol the healthiness and softness of her partner's skin, she felt that she'd earned the right to be a little petty. Ruby didn't even moisturize. She honestly wasn't sure how her team leader could exist in the same house as Yang Xiao Long of all people and still fail to understand the necessity of skin care. Their resident team-mom had failed rather spectacularly in that regard, although after seeing how much it took to get the girl inside the spa she wasn't entirely certain she could blame her.

Wouldn't stop Weiss from forcing the skin-care products Ruby's esthetician had recommended onto the girl, but what did they really expect? She was Weiss Schnee, if she'd be forced to be resigned to be second best it only seemed fair to demand Ruby be at her best so as not to make her look bad.

Ignoring the other girl's wheedling, she opened the door to the changing rooms and almost ran nose-first into Fawn. "Oh! My apologies, dear." Fawn said, stepping back immediately and giving Weiss a concerned once-over for damage, "I was just on my way to find you, I'm pleased to see you haven't left!"

"No, no, I should have been watching where I was going, you have my sincerest—"

"There's no problem, dear," Fawn interrupted gently, her eyes sparkling with laughter, "I simply wanted to inform you of a little contest we were running."

"Of course." Weiss replied immediately, even as Ruby caught up to her.

"What kind of contest?" The little team leader asked, her silver eyes flashing curiously.

Fawn opened her mouth to reply, but a hand came down on her shoulder and interrupted her, "Please, allow me." A rather stern looking woman said with a thin smile as she stepped out from behind the receptionist. Weiss hardly needed more than a glance to peg the newcomer as a resident of Atlas, her military demeanor and crisp manner of speaking were a common feature of the icy homeland the heiress had left behind; Her outfit also included nearly as many whites as Weiss' own—Even if she frankly felt that that was a rather unfair stereotype. The woman wore a cropped white jacket with blue accents that was pressed to perfection over white shorts and light grey leggings. Her polished knee-high boots gleamed as she stepped out from behind Fawn, her body language both perfectly professional yet notably reserved. As she entered her eyes flicked around the room, only coming to rest on the two girls present once she assured herself that they were alone.

"I am Bianca Beryl." The woman said with military precision, giving them a precise nod even as her gray eyes remained unblinkingly locked upon their faces, "I am here with an associate as part of an outreach program from Atlas. It's common knowledge that Atlas is the greatest amongst the four kingdoms in terms of technological advancement, but the local climate sadly curtails many pleasure-seeking activities. As such, the Atlesian government has commissioned the development of facilities capable of providing relaxation without the requisite travel and expense normally associated with such—"

"We're making a spa in a box!" A boisterous, masculine voice interrupted from behind Bianca. The woman flinched, an odd mix of dread and horror spread across her face before she buried it behind a mask of cold professionalism as she turned to address the notably less conservatively dressed man behind her.

"Reno." The Atlesian woman said with deceptive calm as she reached up to sweep a nonexistent strand of hair behind her ear, a motion Weiss immediately pegged as a nervous gesture meant to center her nerves, "Please tell me you didn't just walk through the woman's changing room."

The man Bianca had identified as Reno blinked pitch-black eyes that were notably devoid of any white as he cast a confused look at the doorway behind him, "That was the woman's changing room?"

Bianca's lips thinned but, in an impressive display of control, the stern woman managed to wrestle her expression into a passable imitation of indifference. "Ladies, this is Reno Yucca. He's… helping with the project."

"Like the lady says, name's Reno," The Faunus—It was the only explanation for his eyes—enthused, brushing past Bianca and Fawn to shove a hand towards Weiss and Ruby, "Those Atlas stiffs hired me to help out. I'm the beautician they're trying to replace." He puffed his chest out with no small amount of pride and cast a teasing look at the stiff woman behind him, "Proud to say that their little pet project has a long way to go. It's basically just a glorified assistant right now."

"I have every reason to believe you'll be out of the job soon enough." The woman said, her voice saccharine as she forced the words out through a locked jaw.

"B's been saying that for almost a year and a half now." The Faunus stage-whispered, leaning forward almost double to speak to them, his eyebrows wiggling jauntily over his off-putting eyes. 'B' developed a rather alarming muscle spasm around her eye at the man's words, the clipboard she'd been holding in one hand creaking ominously as her eyes darted towards her partner's exposed neck.

Weiss wondered idly who's idea it had been to pair these two up. They appeared utterly unsuited for the partnership they'd been pushed into, as different as winter from summer. In contrast to his partner's crisp, military style that focused on utility and modesty the Faunus wore lose fitting pants that were made of a light fabric that billowed and danced with his steps. The pants were the color of sun-warmed sand, their ends tucked into heavy wrappings around his ankles that evidently pulled double duty keeping the ends of his light sandals in place. Other than that he wore little more than a light vest over a dull red tank top, its color neatly camouflaging the bandanna he wore around his throat.

None of that was what drew the eye, however, that honor belonged to his eyes and hair. The man wore a friendly expression, but it seemed constantly at odds with the dark pits that loomed above that bright smile. Thinking it rude to stare, Weiss had originally sought to find something else to look at but had found his hair to be equally strange. It was soft, feathery in a way human hair simply couldn't replicate, and a bizarre shade of smoky gray that was occasionally interspersed with dark spots. Two black streaks ran up either side of his skull.

Weiss was no racist, but she held no illusions as to the views most Faunus held towards her family. She'd grown up hearing about people in her orbit being abducted or worse.

She'd attended a few of the funerals.

Weiss Schnee was no racist… but when she stared down at a closed casket, knowing perfectly well what did—or didn't—lay beneath, it was difficult to ignore the rage and the pain and the fear that rose like creeping ivy to steal the breath from her lungs.

There had been a maid once, so long ago, a pleasant woman who'd kept her ears hidden beneath her bonnet and carried about her business with a friendly smile. She'd helped Weiss hide the evidence of a nightmare from her father, she'd changed Whitley's diapers.

She'd been caught smuggling in a bottle of poison.

The woman had lied of course, claiming that the bottle had been an herbal remedy for their cook's heart problems, but her father hadn't been fooled. Weiss wasn't certain what became of the woman, she'd only found out about the events years later, but she'd always wondered deep down if she'd find a familiar face hiding beneath one of those bone-white masks.

She'd been silent too long, hadn't she? Weiss jolted herself back into the present and slapped a polite smile across her features. "A pleasure to meet you." She laughed, loosely taking the Faunus' extended hand. She just needed to play this normal, buy a little time while she recollected herself, "I'm afraid we haven't yet been told what this has to do with our visit, however."

"I apologize," Fawn interrupted, "I forgot to inform you that we were running a raffle every day. Their machine may be in its testing phase, but Mr. Yucca here is a man of considerable talent."

"Y'all are our lucky winners." Reno said with a rakish grin, "Although, to be fair, you're doing us a favor if anything. Those Atlas stiffs need help learning a thing or two about relaxation without having to rely on regularly scheduled breaks." He paused to shoot a wink at Bianca, "I keep telling B she's gotta add more of those to her personal schedule before she collapses from overwork. I kid around a lot, but it's no exaggeration to say she's the heart and soul of this project; If they tried to replace her, I'd follow her in a heartbeat."

A series of complex emotions flitted across Bianca's face, only to be hidden when the woman turned to hide her features with a polite cough as she reached down to smooth nonexistent wrinkles out of her clothing. "Be that as it may," The woman said stiffly, "We are on a bit of a schedule. Would one of you be interested in giving our prototype a shot?"

It was a tempting offer, but not for the reasons provided… She had spent the whole day hearing about how her skin was only second best after all…

"Why yes, yes we would." Weiss said, a sharp little smile forming on her face, "My friend Ruby here has such pretty, healthy skin, but she just can't find a type of makeup that works for her. Perhaps you can give her a hand?"

"Meep?" Ruby posited eloquently.

"Fantastic!" Reno enthused, clapping a hand on Ruby's shoulder and steering the stammering girl away, "Makeup is a topic I happen to know a lot about! You look like you'd do well with something light, I'm thinking maybe—"

His voice drifted off as he marched Ruby away, the petite leader sending the occasional pleading look back Weiss' way that went deservedly unanswered.

"Quite the charmer, that one." Fawn observed, her tone warm and amused as she watched the pair depart.

"Ahem, he can be, yes." Bianca said, pushing another imaginary strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes pointedly anywhere else.

"Very genuine, seems like the type to say exactly the right thing without even noticing."

Bianca coughed delicately into her fist, "I have no idea what you mean."

"Of course, of course," Fawn murmured with a small smile, "Well then, I wish you luck with your… collaboration."

"Atlas thanks you." Bianca stammered, a light veil of pink dusting her features as she hastily excused herself.

"Think they'll get anywhere?" Fawn asked wistfully.

The question caught Weiss off guard, she had to double check that she was indeed the only one in the room before she thought to formulate a response. "I wouldn't think so," She eventually stated honestly, "They hardly seem the ideal match, like oil and water."

Fawn chuckled, turning warm eyes onto Weiss that seemed just a tad too discerning, "You might be surprised," She said knowingly, "People say opposites attract for a reason. Sometimes we need someone in our lives who can balance us out a little bit."

Weiss frowned. She'd… never really thought about things like that. Growing up, all she'd ever heard about was the perfection of the Schnee name and how she had to live up to those standards. She'd been raised to be the perfect Schnee.

She was only now beginning to realize that that wasn't the same as being a perfect person.

She thought back to making their appointment; To the name she'd given. When had she started to doubt that? When had she started trying to escape the overwhelming presence of her last name and just be Weiss?

"You should hurry along as well," Fawn said knowingly, "Your friend could probably use you in that room; She's not quite as confident as you are."

Oh.

In hindsight it was that obvious, wasn't it?

"Perhaps I will accompany her after all." Weiss said with a small, honest smile. It was nowhere near as radiant as the ones she'd been taught, her coaches might have called it vague or ugly, but to her it felt just right.


End file.
